Nielsen: Android leads in smartphone market, data usage

Google’s Android OS continues to the lead the U.S. smartphone market, according to the latest data from Nielsen. In February-April 2011, Android held a 36 percent share of the U.S. smartphone market, compared to a 26 percent for Apple iOS and 23 percent for RIM’s Blackberry. Interestingly, while a higher proportion of iPhone owners said they engaged in “heavy data use” activities—including downloading apps of full music tracks, streaming music, watching video, and playing online games—than owners of other devices, Android users still consumed the most data per month, averaging 582 MB monthly compared to 492 MB monthly for iPhone users. BlackBerry owners used the smallest amount of data, averaging just 127 MB monthly.